REG - British Smaller Co's - Issue of Equity

British Smaller Companies VCTAnnouncement

30/01/2024 09:30

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RNS Number : 3726B  British Smaller Companies VCT PLC  30 January 2024

British Smaller Companies VCT plc (the "Company")

Issue of Equity

On 20 September 2023 British Smaller Companies VCT plc and British Smaller
Companies VCT2 plc (together the "Companies") launched offers for subscription
(the "Offers") seeking to initially raise £65 million in aggregate for the
2023/24 tax year.  On 13 December 2023, the Companies confirmed that the
over-allotment facility of £25 million included in the Offers will be used in
full.  This increases the maximum amount which can be raised under the Offers
to £90 million in aggregate.

The Company announces that today, 30 January 2024, it has made the first issue
of ordinary shares pursuant to the Offers by allotting 22,560,594 ordinary
shares of 10 pence each, raising gross proceeds of £18.6 million. This
allotment was made in respect of the tax year 2023/2024. In accordance with
the pricing formula set out in the Prospectus, the new ordinary shares were
allotted at offer prices of between 81.62 pence and 85.96 pence per share
depending on the adviser charge (if applicable) and the number of shares
issued pertaining to each application.  Applicants received additional New
Shares equivalent to receiving a 3.70 per cent per annum rate of return on
funds awaiting allotment, calculated by reference to the number of days
between the acceptance of an Application (including full receipt of cleared
funds) and the date of allotment.

The net asset value ("NAV") used for the calculation of the issue price on 30
January 2024 is the last reported NAV of 80.4 pence per ordinary share, being
the unaudited NAV as at 30 September 2023 of 82.4 pence per ordinary share,
adjusted for the interim dividend of 2.0 pence per ordinary share paid on 8
December 2023.

Together, the Companies have in total allotted shares relating to gross
proceeds of £30.0 million under the Offers, of which £18.6 million has been
raised by the Company and £11.4 million has been raised by British Smaller
Companies VCT2 plc.

In this allotment the employees and members of the Manager, YFM Private Equity
Limited, have been allotted 170,380 ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the
Company, bringing their aggregate total holding to 856,932 ordinary shares.

Applications are now being made by the Company for the ordinary shares which
were allotted on 30 January 2024 to be admitted to the premium segment of the
Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock
Exchange's main market for listed securities.  Dealings are expected to
commence on or around 13 February 2024.

The Companies have issued a prospectus relating to the Offers (the
"Prospectus"). The proceeds will be allocated between the Companies in
accordance with the terms set out in the Prospectus.

The Offers remain open, with gross Applications received to date exceeding
£75 million. The deadline for receipt of Application Forms and cleared funds
is 28 March 2024, or earlier if the Offers become fully subscribed. The second
and final allotment of the Offers is expected to take place between 2 - 4
April 2024.

The Prospectus is available from the Company's website:

www.bscfunds.com (http://www.bscfunds.com)

and is also available for inspection at the National Storage Mechanism, which
is located at:

https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism
(https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism)

Following the allotment of 22,560,594 ordinary shares, the Company's issued
share capital consists of 263,796,519 ordinary shares with voting rights
("Voting Capital") and 24,501,263 shares held in treasury.

The above statement of Voting Capital may be used by shareholders as the
denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are
required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the
Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

30 January 2024

For further information, please contact:

David Hall                YFM Private Equity
Limited
Tel:  0113 244 1000

Alex Collins              Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited
                            Tel:  0207 886 2767

 

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